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Scribe Badge
The Scribe badge is part of the “It's Your World - Change It!” badge set introduced in 2011. It replaces the retired Write All About It badge. Activity #1: Start with a poem There are all kinds of poems – some are short, some long, some rhyme, some don’t. A poem is a chance to share your feelings and ideas about anything you want, so have fun and let your creativity flow! ''' CHOICES – DO ONE: '''Write one haiku and one limerick. '''Haiku are three-line Japanese poems. They are most often about nature. Limericks are Irish poems of five lines. They rhyme and are usually funny. FOR MORE FUNS: Write a poem in hieroglyphics. Some languages use pictures to show words instead of letters. Egyptians used hieroglyphics. Try writing your poem with these. Or, make up your own picture “letters.” http://www.artyfactory.com/egyptian_art/egyptian_hieroglyphs/hieroglyphs.htm '''OR Write one sonnet.'''Sonnets are 14 lines. Shakespeare, one of the most famous writers in the English language, wrote lots of them, mostly about love and relationships. Your topic might be what you like most about your friends. '''OR Write a free-verse poem.“Free verse” means you write your poem with any number of lines, and any number of syllables in a line . . . you create a poem that’s your very own style. MORE to EXPLORE:Pretend you’re a Girl Scout in 1940. As girls did to earn their Writer badge, keep a daily notebook. For a month, write poems or prose about your feelings and what you see. At the end of the month, compare your first entries with your last ones to see how much your writing has improved. How to write form poems If you want to start with the form and then add your own style, go for it! Each of the 14 lines in a sonnet'''has 10 syllables. In the first three parts, called “stanzas,” every other line rhymes in this pattern: '''a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. The last two lines rhyme with each other. This example, Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, illustrates the form (with some typical variances one may expect when reading an Elizabethan-age sonnet with modern eyes): Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a) Admit impediments, love is not love (b)* Which alters when it alteration finds, (a) Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)* O no, it is an ever fixèd mark ©** That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)*** It is the star to every wand'ring bark, ©** Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)*** Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e) Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f)* Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e) But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f)* If this be error and upon me proved, (g)* I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)* This example, On His Blindness''By Milton, gives a sense of the Italian rhyming scheme: '''a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, c-d-e-c-d-e' When I consider how my light is spent (a) Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b) And that one talent which is death to hide, (b) Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a) To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a) My true account, lest he returning chide; (b) "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b) I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a) That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need © Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d) Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e) Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed © And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d) They also serve who only stand and wait." (e) Haikudo not rhyme, but their three lines always follow a pattern: Five syllables in the first line,'' An old silent pond. . .'' Seven in the second,'' A frog jumps into the pond,'' And five in the third.'' splash! Silence again'' This haiku is by Basho. Limericksare short, rhyming poems that are usually funny. They are five lines long. The first, second, and fifth lines usually rhyme with each other, and then the third and fourth lines, also, rhyme (a-a-b-b-a). Most limericks introduce a character in the first line. “There was an Old Man with a Beard,” by Edward Lear There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!' Read other writers’ work for inspiration if you get stuck. That’s called “writer’s block,” and it happens to everyone! Activity #2: Create a short story There are all kinds of poems – some are short, some long, some rhyme, some don’t. A poem is a chance to share your feelings and ideas about anything you want, so have fun and let your creativity flow! ''' CHOICES – DO ONE: '''Write one haiku and one limerick. '''Haiku are three-line Japanese poems. They are most often about nature. Limericks are Irish poems of five lines. They rhyme and are usually funny. FOR MORE FUNS: Write a poem in hieroglyphics. Some languages use pictures to show words instead of letters. Egyptians used hieroglyphics. Try writing your poem with these. Or, make up your own picture “letters.” http://www.artyfactory.com/egyptian_art/egyptian_hieroglyphs/hieroglyphs.htm '''OR Write one sonnet.'''Sonnets are 14 lines. Shakespeare, one of the most famous writers in the English language, wrote lots of them, mostly about love and relationships. Your topic might be what you like most about your friends. '''OR Write a free-verse poem.“Free verse” means you write your poem with any number of lines, and any number of syllables in a line . . . you create a poem that’s your very own style. MORE to EXPLORE: Pretend you’re a Girl Scout in 1940. As girls did to earn their Writer badge, keep a daily notebook. For a month, write poems or prose about your feelings and what you see. At the end of the month, compare your first entries with your last ones to see how much your writing has improved. Activity #3: Use words to share who you are Autobiographical stories are ones that have happened to you. Begin the same way you did when you told the story from your imagination – with characters, plot, and setting. This time, add lots of detail about how you felt and what you thought in a one-page “sketch” about one of these topics. ''' CHOICES – DO ONE: '''A favorite Girl Scout memory. '''It could be a single moment during a meeting or a whole week of camp. '''OR A memorable day.'''Include lots of details about what you did and why you remember the day so well. '''OR A big adventure.'''Tell your readers where you went, who was with you, and what made it exciting. Did you learn anything from the experience. '''Quotes Quotes are interesting opinions or important things that people say. They can add support or “color” (that’s fun!) to your article. When you write a quote in your article, it should be set apart with quotation marks – and make sure you name who said it. Look at articles in newspapers or magazine for examples. Activity #4: Write an article An article is a type of story you might find in a newspaper or magazine. There are many different types of articles, but they all give the facts – not the writer’s opinions. Writers answer the “5 Ws” to get the facts: Who? What? Where? When? Why: '' '' Most articles, also, start with a sentence called the “lede” (lead) that gives the readers the most interesting or important fact first. Your article doesn’t have to be long - but it should answer the 5 Ws! CHOICES – DO ONE: An interview article. '''Talk to a family member or friend and ask them questions about a specific even or about themselves. Once you’ve interviewed them, write an article using their answers. '''OR A news story.'''Create an article about something that happened in Girl Scouts, at school, or in your community. '''OR A “roundup” article. ''' This is an article where you interview different people about the same subject. Talk to at least five people and ask them one question, for example: What was your favorite field trip last year? '''TIP: Start the article with a lede about why the question is important. You can, also, add descriptions of the mood of the people when they gave their answers. Were they excited? Angry? Surprised? Activity #5: Tell the world what you think An essay gives facts – but is written from the author’s point of view. So, unlike an article, an essay is a chance for you to share your thoughts and feelings. Write a two-page essay about one of these things, and try to include five facts along with your opinion. ''' CHOICES – DO ONE: '''A favorite animal. '''If you love elephants, for example, you might include facts about their trunks, along with your observations about how a trunk could come in handy if you were an elephant. '''OR A place you’d like to visit.'''You might share some facts you’ve read, along with your own ideas of what it would be like to go there, and what you would do. '''OR Your favorite book.'''It might be fun to include a few of your favorite lines from the book (called an “excerpt”), along with your thoughts on what they mean. '''I think the mystery will be about the letters! And, if someone slipped a letter under my door, I’d want it to say . . . ' Excerpt from ''The Westing Game''' ''by Ellen Raskin '“Then one day (it happened to be the 4thof July), a most uncommon-looking delivery boy rode around town slipping letters under the doors of the chosen tenants-to-be. The letters were signed Barney Northrup. ''The delivery boy was sixty-two years old, and there was no such person as Barney Northrup.” 'Category:Juniors Category:Girl Scout Badge